Puppies Are All You Need
by AnneLea
Summary: Challenge fic. Had to be : Current Fandom, General Pairings, Fluff Yeah, not so easy, but here's my stab at it. The Paladins get puppies.


Shiro drug his natural hand down his face.

Pregnant.

Not just pregnant, but in labor.

And she was still texting?

When in the hell had she even gotten with anybody? They had only first gotten back to Earth two years ago. It had only been ten months since they had gotten home on a semi-permanent basis. Was it then? Who with?

She was still a teenager! He had seen her eight weeks ago, and she looked normal!

Would he come over to the house and be with her through this? YES! If for no other reason than to find out who the father was and beat his slimy ass, Shiro would go the the Holt residence and be there when this baby was born.

Still bunking at the Galaxy Garrison, he grabbed a change of clothes, texted the others, and sprinted to the parking deck. He probably knocked over a few people on the way, but it didn't matter.

The littlest Paladin of Voltron had a baby on the way!

Hunk was running out of a cab just as Shiro reached the door. Keith opened the door to let them in. The moment the door was shut, someone was knocking on it. Lance had gotten his face smacked by the shutting wooden barrior. Door reopened, Lance came in rubbing his nose.

Shiro crossed his arms and studied the three most likely candidates. "Who did it?"

He received confused looks in return. The other three then started scrutinizing one another, then turned on him.

"You could have," Lance bravely replied.

"My friend's sister, daughter of one of my mentors? Try again. I know it was one of you three."

"Uh, guys," Matt poked his head around the corner. "I don't know what you're all doing just standing there, but she's on her second one! Come on!"

Second? Not once had they heard any yelling or moaning. Nobody heard one single curse word. There were no sounds of a crying baby.

Bewildered, they followed Matt to the spare bedroom upstairs to find Sam and Coleen huddled near the floor. Pidge soon pushed passed them with a fresh set of hand towels.

"Mom, are these okay?" she asked, seeming a little out of breath. Otherwise, she looked just fine. Just a normal young woman. Certainly not pregnant or giving birth!

"Sure, sweety," Coleen took the offered cloth. "The vet said she only had five."

And that's when they caught sight of the reason they were all here. The Holt family dog, Misty, was the ine giving birth.

There was a collective release of tension in the shoulders of four people. And a few nervous laughs.

Hunk held the runt of the litter carefully, angling the bottle so that the little puppy could get her food the fastest way possible. "Gloria. Yeah. I'm going to name you Gloria. You've got the best fighting spirit there is, don't you, little one?"

Pidge smiled at the scene before her. All the other puppies had been weaned, but little Gloria had just earned a name. Everybody was scared to name her, fearing she wouldn't live. Hunk had claimed her the moment they realized she wasn't eating and had been shunned by Misty and the rest of the litter.

"I think you should see if she will play with the others," Sam suggested. "It shouldn't be much longer before you can stop bottle feeding her."

Hunk looked a little sad about that, wanting to keep the puppy all to himself. But, socialization was key for dogs, and Gloria needed to learn to be a dog, not a human. With a sigh, he wiped off the puppy's mouth and set her down near one of her sisters.

And it was golden.

Gloria wobbled her way over and attacked her sister's ear eagerly, earning a yip and playful pouncing in return. The other fuzzy little ones joined in, all taking sides. Gloria had two on her side.

And then Misty came in and started checking on them all. Even Gloria.

"Awe, it's so perfect!" Lance smiled down at them. "Dia is a bit rough, though."

"I hope Frost getts along with his big brother at home," Keith voiced quietly.

"Chi is already a shoe chewer," Shiro sighed, looking down as his puppy came over and started pulling at his shoe laces.

"Allura says she can't wait to get back and meet Padja," Pidge reported, bringing in a plate of fruit and some kind of carbonated drinks for everyone. "She said she'd get here by tomorrow."

The doorbell rang.

"I got it," Pidge ran off down the hallway, soon returning with Allura and Coran behind her at a more dignified pace.

Of course, the puppies had to run up to the new people in a hurry, yipping and dripping over themselves in the process.

"Oh, aren't they adorable!" Coran exclaimed.

Allura was a giggling mess on the floor, the puppies climbing all over her unusually prone body, sniffing, licking at her face, and yipping some more. "Is this what all Earth's mamillian offspring are like?"

"Uh, no," Pidge laughed a little at the scene, "just the canine ones."

"Which one is Padja? They all look so similar!"

Pidge picked one up out of Allura's hair, "Here she is!"

Twice a year, they all came together to give the dogs a play date. Sure, they visited one another often, but these dates were mandatory for everyone to show up unless something important in the realm of diplomacy, life, or death kinds of things got in the way. In that case, they rescheduled for the next convenient date.

The dogs were getting on in years, and old injuries combind with active lifestyles were wearing on the Paladins. Misty was barely able to walk to the shade only to lay and pant herself to sleep in the noon heat of the dog park. Pidge didn't even bother to keep her on a leash or tie her to the park bench. She couldn't run away if she wanted to.

With no regard to the fact that he was sharpening a set of throwing knives, Pidge plopped herself down by Keith, leaning against his shoulder. "Do you think Hunk will care if I just nap here while he cooks lunch?"

"By the looks of it, he needs a nap, too," Keith commented, pointing a knife towards the parking lot. "Besides. It's Lance's turn to cook."

"Oh, right... and he's supposed to paint my toe nails later, too."

"After you braid my hair," Shiro pipped up from above them in the tree. "I know Allura said I looked better with it like this, but... I can't braid, and it's really hot out."

"You're the one who dyed your hair black again," Keith reminded.

"Says the man who's going grey early," Shiro replied, throwing a twig at him.

"You went full on white before your twenty-fifth birthday," Keith threw the twig back.

Pidge flicked his nose, "He had reasons. REASONS!"

"Hey guys," Hunk finally made it to them, setting Gloria down near her mother. The dog was sporting a brand new pink cast on her right rear leg. "Good news, she gets the cast off next Monday!"

"Hey, hey! Where's my favorite car chaser at?" Lance's voice rang out from the farther parking lot.

Gloria tried to take off and failed. Hunk had to grab her up and hold her still until Lance made his way over and bent down to pet her himself.

"Where's Allura and Padja?"

"Padja is still nursing her puppies," Allura answered from a branch higher in the tree than Shiro, surprising Pidge, Lance, and Hunk.

Keith and Shiro already knew where she was, it seemed, and smiled at the startled looks on the others' faces.

The two eldest hopped down and started helping Lance go through the grocery bags. Pidge hopped up and wrapped her arms around Allura, commenting that she really did miss their girl time.

"Again, I seriously doubt you have a girly bone in your body," Lance looked her up and down pointedly. "You make a way better guy than a girl."

"Says the guy who promised to paint my nails and even put little jewels on them," Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.

The heat and full bellies slowed them all down two hours later. Passers-by didn't dare interrupt the strewn out bodies in the grass.

Allura leaned up against the tree she and Shiro had been having a climbing contest in earlier that day. Her fingers rested in Hunk's hair. Shiro's head rested beside Hunk's elbow. Lance rested his head on one of Shiro's calves. Pidge's legs were wrapped around one of his, and her head lay in Keith's lap.

When Pidge didn't answer her phone, Matt tracked her down to this very spot.


End file.
